No charges for white Atlanta police officers for fatally shooting Black man Rayshard Brooks in the back
- Rayshard Brooks was shot dead June 12, 2020, outside a fast-food restaurant in Atlanta after a struggle with officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan
- After a brief struggle, Brooks fled with one of the officers’ tasers and fired it at them as he was running away. Rolfe shot Brooks twice in the back
Two white Atlanta police officers will not face charges for the 2020 fatal shooting of a Black man who was shot twice in the back, a prosecutor said on Tuesday.
Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, said that after reviewing the evidence, charges were not warranted against the officers for the death of Rayshard Brooks.
The 27-year-old Brooks was shot dead on June 12, 2020, outside a fast-food restaurant in Atlanta after a struggle with officers Garrett Rolfe and his partner Devin Brosnan.
Brooks’ death came less than a month after that of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man killed by police in Minneapolis, and added fuel to nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
Rolfe and Brosnan were responding to a report of a man sleeping in his car in the drive-through line at a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant.
In an interaction that was calm for most of 40 minutes, they gave Brooks an alcohol test and, after it proved positive, sought to arrest him for driving under the influence.
After a brief struggle, Brooks fled with one of the officers’ tasers and fired it at them as he was running away. Rolfe shot Brooks twice in the back.
